Rick has been a full-time resident of South Whidbey Island since 1992. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Design in 1972 and a Master Degree of Architecture in 1975 from the University of Washington.

Locally Rick has served as president of the Holmes Harbor Sewer District, Co-Chair of the Freeland Sub-Area Planning Committee, sat on the Board of Directors of the Freeland Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Langley Design Review Board. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Saratoga Community Housing, an affordable Community Land Trust, and is president of the Rotary Club of South Whidbey Island.

As a licensed architect he has completed well over 100 projects on South Whidbey. Commisons have been commerical as well as residential remodeling and new custom homes.

Commercial projects include St. Hubert Church addition, the Senior Community Thrift, Porter Insurance Building (Windermere), the historic Sears House Renovation, Bayview Farm & Garden expansion, Bayview Composting Washrooms, Penn Cove Shellfish, several storage facilities and renovations at the Bayview Cash Store and remodeling of both China City Restaurants and the Useless Bay Country Club clubhouse. Feasability studies have been prepared for Seabreeze Seafoods, Senior Services of Whidbey Island, and Whidbey Coffee.

Work on South Whidbey also includes numerous pro-bono projects for South Whidbey Parks and Recreation, the Lion’s Club, Rotary International and the local Chamber’s of Commerce.

Rick has also provided expert witness services for construction issues; most recently for the City of Lakewood. Rick has been in involved in affordable housing for nearly thirty years. He was the architect for the Songaia Co-housing project in Bothel, Washington and the president of the La’mourita Coop in Seattle for nearly ten years. His practice regularly provides consultation to housing authorities, property management firms and developers.

In addition to oversight and design services, The Brown Associates/Architects is regularly involved in preparation and review of capital needs assessments and feasibility studies for affordable housing projects. In the past year the firm has been responsible for construction oversight of more than $150M in affordable housing construction at twenty-six projects in seven Western states.